Jason Bateman Returning to Netflix for Next Project After ‘Ozark’

Ozark star Jason Bateman is sticking with Netflix for his next project. He signed on to star in Carry On, a new drama from Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra. Rocketman star Taron Egerton will join Bateman in the thriller.

Carry On tells the story of TSA agent Ethan Kopek, who is blackmailed by a mysterious traveler to let a package go through security for a Christmas Day flight. Sources close to the project told Deadline Bateman will star as the mysterious traveler. Netflix has not commented on the project. The movie was written by T.J. Fixman (Ratchet & Clank), with Michael Green (Logan, Jungle Cruise) working on the latest draft of the script. Dylan Clark is producing.

It will be the first production from Amblin since the studio signed an overall deal with Netflix in June 2021. Amblin President of Production Holly Bario will oversee Carry On for the studio. Brian Williams is executive producing under Dylan Clark Productions. Scott Greenberg and Seth William Meier are also executive-producing.

Bateman has a long history with Netflix, which famously revived Arrest Development in 2013. Bateman also starred in Ozark, earning critical acclaim for playing Marty Byrde. In 2019, he won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the episode “Reparations” and picked up a Screen Actors Guild Award. This year, he was nominated for Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the Emmys. The second half of the show’s final season was released in April.

Bateman is a producer on Your Place or Mine, which will be released on Netflix. The film was written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and stars Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, and Jesse Williams. Bateman also filmed an upcoming Amazon Prime Video movie about Nike’s attempt to sign Michael Jordan in the 1980s, co-starring Matt Damon and directed by Ben Affleck.

Collet-Serra started his career focusing on horror movies, directing Orphan, House of Wax, and The Shallows. He also directed Liam Neeson in Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Knight, and The Commuter. The director began a collaboration with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, first with Disney’s Jungle Cruise and then with Warner Bros.’ DC Comics movie Black Adam. The latter film is scheduled to open on Oct. 21.